r/rr  r-rri- 


125  tiAST  ,i 


■i.i:  M 
STRrET 


Medical  Mission  Ser'ies. 


HOSPITALS  IN  SYRIA. 


Nurses  and  Patients,  Women’s  Hospital,  Beirut.  American  Nurse  on  Left. 


The  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 

501  Witherspoon  Building,  Philadelphia 


STATISTICS,  1907 


TRIPOLI  — Hospital,  Dispensary.  ...  Ira  Harris,  M.  D. 
JUNIEH — Hospital  (Women),  Dispensary,  Mary  Pierson  Eddy,  M.  D. 


Total  number  of  patients  treated  during  year,  9,461 


STAR  OF  KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 


HOSPITALS  IN  SYRIA. 


^IIE  medical  work  of  our  Church  is  smaller  in 
Syria  than  in  some  other  fields,  because  of 
the  presence  in  Beirut  of  the  noble  Johanniter 
Hospital,  with  its  spacious  buildings  and  fine 
facilities.  The  management  of  this  hospital 
affords  a happy  illustration  of  cooperation  in 
benevolence.  The  property  is  owned  and  the 
hospital  maintained  by  the  Johanniter  Order, 
popularly  known  as  the  Knights  of  St.  John, 
whose  head  is  the  Emperor  of  Germany.  The 
nurses  are  provided  by  the  deaconesses  of 
Kaiserwerth,  and  the  medical  and  surgical  staff,  numbering  six 
American  doctors  and  two  instructors,  by  the  S.yrian  Protestant 
College  at  Beirut.  Dr.  George  E.  Post,  the  senior  member  of 
tlie  medical  staff,  is  known  throughout  Syria,  and  he  and  his 
associates  have  made  the  hospital  a power  for  righteousness. 

The  medical  department  of  the  College  gives  a most  thorough 
four  years’  course.  The  effect  of  this  is  seen  in  the  steadily 
advancing  standard  of  medical  training  throughout  Syria.  In 
the  year  1906-1907  there  were  over  one  hundred  medical  students 
in  the  College,  and  about  forty  in  the  pharmaceutical  depart- 
ment. Each  year  an  Imperial  Commissioner  is  appointed  from 


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the  Constantinople  Medical  University  to  examine  and  confer 
degrees  upon  all  the  worthy  graduates,  who  may  then  practice 
in  any  part  of  Turkey  or  Egypt. 

As  the  need  for  expansion  was  manifest,  the  Maria  de  Witt 
Jessup  Hosjiitals  for  women  and  children  were  opened  in  1905, 
in  a temporary  home.  In  the  autumn  of  1907  a new  women’s 
pavilion  was  completed ; the  foundations  are  laid  for  an  eye 
and  ear  pavilion,  and  soon  the  new  hospital  for  children  will 
be  commenced.  Mrs.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  is  the  superintendent 
of  these  hospitals. 

The  services  of  an  American  nurse,  trained  in  the  New  York 
Post-Graduate  Hospital,  have  been  secured,  and  a Nurses’ 
Training  School  for  Syrian  Girls  has  been  established. 

‘ ‘ I can  never  call  myself  a Moslem  again,  ’ ’ said  a woman 
who  had  been  ill  a long  time  in  the  women’s  ward,  “for  I love 
Christ  and  wish  to  follow  him.  ’ ’ And  when  she  returned  to 
her  distant  home,  the  missionary  near  there  wrote  that  she 
was  asking  for  admission  to  the  Christian  Church. 

The  work  of  Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy  is  also  associated  with  Beirut 
station.  On  returning  to  her  native  Syria  in  1893,  after  a 
most  thorough  medical  course  in  the  United  States,  Dr.  Eddy 
succeeded  by  long  patience  in  obtaining  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  medicine  and  surgery  from  the  Turkish  government,  with 
permission  to  practice  anywhere  in  the  Empire.  This  was  the 
first  government  degree  ever  given  to  a woman.  For  some  years 
Dr.  Eddy  spent  most  of  her  time  in  medical  and  evangelistic 
tours  throughout  the  entire  mission  field.  In  her  own  graphic 
words,  she  says: — 

“Long  before  5 A.  M.,  on  summer  days,  my  tent  is  surrounded  by 
waiting  throngs  who  wonder  audibly,  ‘Why  the  hakimcli  sleeps  so  late?’ 
It  is  a heart-breaking  multitude — the  blind  groping  their  way,  the 
helpless  borne  by  friends,  pitiful  looking  babes  carried  by  their  mothers, 
and  tottering  old  people  led  by  their  children.  Clinic  hours  are  often 
extended  until  4 P.  M.,  and  then  comes  the  irksome  task  of  filling  the 
long  row  of  waiting  bottles,  with  a Syrian  maiden  for  my  sole  assistant. 
By  the  time  the  mixtures,  powders,  eye  washes,  and  ointments  are  labeled 
and  ranged  in  order  the  evening  has  come  and  the  village  claims  us  for 
its  own.  .'Ml  are  welcome;  the  elders  range  themselves  under  the  large 
Bible  pictures  on  the  wall;  the  children  fill  every  available  inch.  One 
little  corner  is  kept  near  the  window  for  the  organ  and  myself.  When 
the  evening  gathering  has  been  closed,  letters  and  orders  must  be  pre- 
pared and  dispatched  by  a messenger  to  the  nearest  post  office  before 
sleep  can  be  wooed. 


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“At  one  time  the  waiting  groups  were  startled  by  the  sudden  irruption 
of  the  robber  chief  who  held  the  whole  country  side  in  his  sway. 
Accompanied  by  a dozen  tall,  fierce  followers,  armed  like  himself  to 
the  teeth,  he  entered  the  room  seeking  aid  for  one  of  the  number  who 
had  an  ugly  scalp  wound  and  a finger  nearly  severed.  They  gazed 
curiously  at  the  shelves  filled  with  bottles  and  bo.xes;  they  looked 
askance  at  the  strange  glittering  instruments;  they  stared  at  the  steri- 
lizing apparatus  in  the  deep  window  recess,  and  the  traveling  chests 
arranged  for  an  operating  table.  ‘Mashallah !’  says  the  leader.  ‘lias 
your  country  many  daughters  like  you?  Truly,  oiir  work  is  but  to 
despoil  and  deface;  yours  is  to  restore  and  repair.’ 

“In  one  place  where  I had  straightened  the  cross-eyes  of  a number 
of  maidens  a Moslem  said  to  me,  ‘You  have  provided  those_  destitute 
ones  with  homes  by  your  skill;  you  have  laid  up  more  merit  in  heaven 
than  if  you  had  journeyed  to  Mecca!’  ’’ 

lu  1903  Dr.  Eddy  opened  a hospital  and  dispensary  for 
women  at  Junieh,  fifteen  miles  across  the  bay  from  Beirut. 
This  is  a Maronite  stronghold,  surrounded  by  two  hundred  and 
sixty-seven  towns  and  villages,  where  no  Protestant  had  ever 


Hospital  at  Junieh,  Syria. 


been  allowed  to  live.  After  four  years  of  work,  the  prejudice 
of  the  people  has  been  transformed  into  marked  friendliness; 
the  medical  work  is  firmly  established;  there  are  regular 
Sabbath  services;  schools  for  the  boys  and  girls;  a Bible  Society 


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colporteur  working  in  the  villages;  a Bible  woman  to  visit  in 
the  neighborhood  and  among  the  patients.  On  the  hospital 
premises  are  a resting  room,  a guest  chamber  for  missionaries, 
a reading  room  and  a Bible  depository.  Regular  clinics  are 
held  for  Moslem  women.  Many  Kurds  and  Bedouin  also  attend. 
These  wanderers  have  learned  to  trust  Dr.  Eddy,  and  when 
their  tents  are  invaded  by  illness  they  take  refuge  in  her 
vicinity. 

“In  February  we  had  a fearful  storm  along  our  coast.  In  the  morn- 
ing, above  the  sound  of  the  breakers  we  heard  the  cries  of  a woman 
in  distress.  With  difficulty  I pushed  my  blind  open,  and  directly 
under  my  window  was  a black  haircloth  tent  soaked  with  rain,  a poor 
woman  seated  in  the  door,  and  on  the  wet  ground  by  her  side  a tiny  baby 
wrapped  only  in  rags.  The  husband  and  father  had  gone  to  beg  their 
breakfast.  It  did  not  take  long  to  diagnose  the  nature  of  their  immediate 
needs.  I had  just  finished  two  baby  wrappers.  One  of  these  I rolled 
into  a tight  ball  and  threw  it  with  such  force  that,  despite  the  wind,  it 
reached  its  destination,  and  the  baby  was  wrapped  in  it  before  the  hot 
soup  for  the  mother  and  a warm  blanket  for  the  baby  could  be  taken 
down  by  the  road.  The  name  of  my  little  guest  was  Khalil  Ullah, 
‘the  friend  of  God.’  Two  years  ago,  in  fulfilment  of  a vow,  the  father 
and  mother  had  set  out  for  Jerusalem.  Poverty  and  ignorance  of  the 
language  made  their  progress  slow.  It  was  a year  before  they  saw  the 
Holy  City,  but  what  mattered  privation  and  weariness?  Their  petitions 
had  been  heard,  their  vow  accepted;  and  their  poverty  was  forgotten 
when  the  little  boy,  asked  from  the  God  of  Abraham,  came  to  their 
tent.  The  terrific  storm  endangered  the  mother’s  life,  and  she  was 
very  ill  for  some  days.  She  was  so  grateful  and  patient,  and  it  was  a 
new  ■ sensation  for  us,  who  daily  teach  Bible  stories  to  our  nominally 
Christian  neighbors,  to  be  asked  by  this  Kurdish  woman  if  we  had  ever 
heard  of  her  boy's  famous  ancestor  Abraham,  the  Friend  of  God.  1 
told  her  that  I too  had  often  been  a dweller  in  tents,  and  that  I never 
sat  in  the  tent  door  at  the  close  of  day  without  thinking  of  Abraham. 
She  firmly  believed  that  the  care  and  help  she  received  were  in  answer 
to  her  prayers  the  night  of  the  storm,  and  both  she  and  the  baby  en- 
deared themselves  greatly  to  us.  After  we  and  they  have  finished  with 
these  frail  earthly  tabernacles,  shall  our  feet  tread  together  the  streets 
of  that  Eternal  City  of  which  we  talked  to  each  other?" 

The  Asfuriyeh,  the  only  hospital  for-  the  insane  in  Syria,  was 
founded  in  i896  by  Mr.  Theophilus  Waldineier.  It  occupies 
twenty  acres  of  land  in  a beautiful  situation  three  miles  from 
Beirut,  with  seven  buildings  and  seventy  patients.  The  funds 
were  raised  in  Europe  and  the  Ignited  States,  and  the  hospital 
is  controlled  by  a central  committee  in  London,  with  branches 
in  all  counties.  This  hospital  is  an  untold  blessing  to  Syria, 
and  men  of  all  sects  are  loud  in  its  praise.  Eecently  the  favorite 


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preacher  of  the  Patriarch  of  Antioch  was  seized  with  violent 
mania,  and  it  was  necessary  to  take  him  by  force  to  Asfnriyeh. 
By  patient  and  skillful  treatment  lie  was  completely  restored, 
and  his  gratitude  knew  no  bounds. 

“I  had  been  taught,”  he  said,  ‘‘that  Protestants  were  devils, 
and  1 find  they  are  angels!  How  can  T ever  repay  you?”  His 
cure  made  a deej)  imj)rpssion  throughout  the  country.  .Vbout 
half  the  running  expenses  of  the  hospital  is  paid  by  the 
j)atients,  the  rest  is  given  by  its  friends. 

Outside  of  Beirut  and  its  vicinity  our  onh'  extensive  medical 
work  is  at  Tripoli.  This  work  was  begun  in  1863  by  Dr. 
George  E.  Post.  When  he  left  to  assist  in  organizing  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut,  liis  place  was  taken  by 
lir.  G.  B.  Danforth  (1871-187.5),  and  afterward  by  Dr.  C.  W. 
Calhoun  ( 1879-1883).  After  Dr.  Calhoun’s  death,  his  work  was 
taken  u])  by  Dr.  Tra  Harris,  who  has  carried  it  on  ever  since. 

The  Trijmli  Hospital  has  thirty-five  beds.  Only  surgical 
cases  are  now  taken  there;  the  medical  jiatients  are  housed  in 
a rented  buihling  near  by.  Religious  services  are  held  in  the 
hos[)ital  chapel,  and  a Bible  woman  teaches  the  women  patients. 
In  the  crowded  Meena  (harbor)  a dispensary  reaches  the  motley 
seaport  population.  The  Greek  bishop,  visiting  the  Meena, 
declared:  ‘‘Those  Americans  know  how  to  make  religion  inter- 
esting to  the  i)eople.  They  use  means  that  are  noble  and  good ; 
they  treat  the  sick  and  cure  the  deformed,  and  b)'  such  means 
they  make  Protestants.  ’ ’ 

The  two  busy  times  in  the  year  for  doctors  in  Syria  are  the 
days  following  the  ^Moslem  fast  of  Ramazan  and  those  after  the 
long  Lent  of  the  eastern  Christians.  The  reaction  from  fasting 
to  unbridled  feasting  plays  havoc  with  the  digestive  organs. 
Tubercular  diseases,  both  medical  and  surgical,  are  largely 
increasing.  The  treatment,  in  view  of  the  almost  mortal  fear 
awakened  in  the  patients  by  the  very  name  of  consumption, 
gives  much  thought  and  anxiety. 

When  the  traveling  season  opens,  long  tours  are  made  in 
the  surrounding  country.  Tip  and  down  the  slopes  of  ‘ ‘ all 
Lebanon  toward  the  sun  rising,  from  Mount  Hermon  unto  the 
entering  in  of  Hamath,  ’ ’ the  good  doctor  is  known  and  loved, 
and  the  sick  and  suffering  are  brought  to  him,  just  as  they 
were  brought  to  his  Master  in  Gospel  days.  The  patients  are 


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of  all  tribes  and  faiths — Moslem,  Nusairy,  Metawaly,  Greek, 
Protestant,  Maronite,  Catholic,  Syrian — all  one  in  their  human 
sutt'erings  and  needs.  Dr.  Harris  says  of  one  trip: — 

“At  Hums  the  large  room  that  is  ordinarily  used  for  the  church 
services  becomes  the  temporary  hospital.  An  operating  table  is  set  up; 
a portable  sterilizing  apparatus,  a generous  supply  of  instruments,  two 
trunks,  one  filled  with  medicines  the  other  with  Bibles  and  tracts,  and 
all  is  ready.  The  crowd  fills  the  room  and  the  court  on  which  it 
opens.  Each  one  does  his  best  to  get  to  the  doctor.  There  are  a number 
of  Holy  Men  who  have  made  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  the  head  Sheikh 
of  Hums,  the  town  judge,  military  officers  and  leading  citizens,  and 
many,  many  poor  diseased  and  deformed  creatures. 

“We  were  here  five  weeks.  As  the  days  passed  it  became  necessary 
to  hire  a larger  building.  In  all  about  three  thousand  patients  were 
treated.  Daily  services  were  held  with  them,  Moslems  and  all,  and 
special  evening  meetings  at  the  church. 

“At  Hamath  are  very  many  miserably  poor  people,  living  in  rooms 
dug  out  of  the  chalk  cliffs  along  the  river.  Words  fail  to  describe 
their  poverty  and  wretchedness.  They  are  a prey  to  diseases  of  all 
sorts,  especially  those  of  the  eye.  Quacks  ply  their  trade  unhindered, 
and  many  lose  their  sight  and  often  their  lives  from  the  ignorant 
treatment.” 

Dr.  James  Wells  of  Glasgow  says:  “Syria  has  been  called 
the  fifth  gospel,  because  it  affords  so  many  illustrations  of  the 
Xew  Testament  accounts.  But  there  is  a newer  and  more 
radiant  gospel  revealed  through  the  medical  missionaries,  whose 
work  is  the  very  incarnation  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  ’ ’ 


Price,  3 cents  ; 30  cents  a dozen. 


8 


